Published: February 20, 2008 11:54 am         

Tornado wrestlers earn trip to state tourney

Kiggins, Frush, Stark, Mangold lead Keyser to fourth-place showing in regional

GRAFTON - Keyser's Colby Kiggins, Alan Frush, Tommy Stark and Blake Mangold were runnersup in West Virginia Class AA Region II Tournament and led the Golden Tornado to a fourth-place finish Saturday at Grafton High School.

Grafton won the team title with 178 points, followed by Berkeley Springs with 169, Petersburg with 150 1/2 and Keyser with 145 1/2. Other teams and scores were Braxton (134 1/2), Liberty Harrison (133 1/2), Frankfort (85), Philip Barbour (65 1/2), South Harrison (18) and Moorefield (12).

* Kiggins won the 103-pound class and ran his personal record to 35-6. He defeated Cohen Hovermale of Berkeley Springs 10-3 before being pinned by Markus Griffin of Grafton in 3:08.

* Frush, was second at 112 and moved his season record to 28-12. He decisioned Ryan Clark of Frankfort 13-2 and lost to Derek Hovermale of Berkeley Springs, by pin in 4:36.

* Stark, runnerup at 130, improved to 36-6 on the year. He pinned Tristan Reneau of Grafton in 1:10, then dropped a 15-5 major decision to Berkeley's Damen Capper in the finals.

* Mangold was runnerup at 145 and is now 40-4 for the season. He pinned Philip Barbour's Matt Bennett in 2:21 and Petersburg's Russell Coakley in 3:34 before losing a 6-0 decision to Cruz McIntyre of Liberty Harrison.

Brandon Swick and Jordan Mellott earned berths in the state tournament by placing third in their weight classes. The top four finishers in each division advance.

* Swick was third in the 160 division and is 26-20 for the year. He decisioned Nathaniel Hunt of Petersburg 15-9, then lost a 9-0 major decision to Damon Kindel of Liberty Harrison. He rebounded by pinning Frankfort's Dalton Layton in 2:25, then decisioned Grafton's Jason Austin in the third-place match 5-4.

* Mellott improved to 37-7 with a third place at 189. He pinned Frankfort's Nick Krynock in 2;21, lost to Aaron Wood of Grafton 6-2, beat Aaron Sullivan of Philip Barbour by a technical fall 18-1, then topped Petersburg's Derek Alt 5-0.

Frankfort's Alec Peer (125-pound class, 37-7 record) and Ben Snoberger (152, 43-6) were region champions. Ryan Clark (112, 23-22) was third and Dallin Rust (171, 32-19) fourth and also move on to the state tournament, as was reported in Monday's Times-News.